According to EU legislation, wine is a luxury food. What sounds romantic, however, harbors some dangers: Since wine is not declared as food, it does not have to say what is in the bottle. It can therefore do without the labeling of additives and technical aids. Unfortunately, conventional bulk wine rarely stays with fermented grape juice: it is filtered, clarified and fined.
It’s different with natural wine: Surk-ki Schrade writes in her book “Natürlich Wein” that the basis of natural wine is the absence of synthetic agents on the vineyard. Organic or biodynamic cultivation, with or without a certificate, is the first requirement. Grapes are harvested by hand, they are spontaneously fermented without the addition of yeast, i.e. without any aids. It is neither refined nor clarified, neither acidified nor deacidified.
For comparison: In conventional pasture, grapes can be sprayed with synthetic agents during cultivation, the harvest, i.e. the picking of the grapes, is often done by machine. A large number of substances and processes can be used during fermentation. In winemaker accessories shops you can choose from a variety of pure yeasts that are supposed to give the wine a certain flavor. For example, “exotic fruit notes such as passion fruit, grapefruit” or “complex aromatic white wines in the New World style”. Not to forget vitamins, yeast nutrients, yeast activators, enzymes, products for clarification and fining, for harmonization, tannins, wood chips in different flavors that are supposed to increase complexity. All of that is allowed. They are regarded as auxiliaries and are removed again for filling with other auxiliaries. They are then no longer detectable in the wine.
Sulfur must be labeled if it contains more than ten milligrams, which preserves the wine and protects it from oxidation. In addition, chicken protein and dairy products must be labeled if 25 milligrams per liter can be detected. They usually aren’t. What are the chicken and dairy products doing in wine? Animal products such as chicken protein or fish protein are used for clarification and remove turbid matter. Sugar in the form of beet juice or grape juice is added to achieve higher alcohol levels. citric acid to raise the acidity. More than 50 other additives may be added to the wine without having to declare them.
As a consumer, you can at least understand which wine is “made” or comes from the winemaker. The large winery is marked as bottled goods, the winemaker says producer bottling and an address on it. In the case of the cellar goods, only the bottler is usually noted and an official test number that certifies its marketability. Anyone who absolutely wants to buy wines that do not contain any additives only has the option of circling out ingredients concentrically. This works if you look at what the various winegrowing associations do without. Of the associations that include Bioland, Ecocert or Naturland, the Demeter association is the one with the strictest requirements. Otherwise, the only option is to buy wine directly from the winemaker and ideally have them explain how the wine was made.
The crux of the matter with natural wine is that nothing is added and nothing removed during fermentation. The wine is left to its own devices. The grape juice is mashed, i.e. crushed, or directly pressed and fermented. Sulfur is the only additive that may be used, if at all, in small amounts. However, only after fermentation, when the grape juice has turned into wine. More often, the juice ferments completely, there is hardly any residual sugar. Ergo: the wine is dry. If you prefer sweet wine, you shouldn’t go for natural wine.
Natural wine is a different style, a different wine style than conventional wines. Which does not mean that the auxiliaries and additives are contained in every wine that is not natural wine. But consumers will not find out. The following applies to natural wine: try it out and find out your own taste. Our favorites are the fruity and upbeat natural wines “Glow Glow” from Pauline and Carl Baumberger, who have only been making natural wine since 2019 and are turning their parents’ winery upside down. Or the filigree and elegant wines from Bianca and Daniel Schmitt, who work biodynamically and expand natural wine to unimagined heights.
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